(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention lies in the general field of liquid purification. The invention also relates to a water clarifying or separating apparatus, and, more particularly, to using a gravity separator for suspended minerals in water which are pre-treated by a magnetic field and by incorporating a helical screw impeller within the magnetic field to provide a sweeping action to the particles in the water prior to settling by gravity. The invention also lies in the field of plural separating tank units which are flow connected in seriatum.
As is well known, water is an essential resource and the supply and/or nature of raw water is frequently contaminated with high mineral content, as, for example, iron oxides. Problems also arise when raw (untreated) water is used directly either in the home, office or industrial facility; it will result in large deposits of scale, corrosion and embrittlement in pipes, boilers and valves.
(B) Brief Description of the Prior Art
The basic concept for settling or separating finely divided solids from a portion of a liquid in which they are suspended is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 1,140,131. This patent discloses a metallurgical process using a single vessel and various means for controlling and regulating conditions in the underflow or the overflow, or in both.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,691,060 discloses a method of reclaiming gasoline from sludge by passing sludge and water into a single tank having an overflow, mixing the sludge and water in the tank, settling out the sludge and water, decanting the gasoline, and draining the sludge and water from the tank.
A different construction of the prior art, U.S. Pat. No. 1,458,805, discloses apparatus for the gravity settlement of finely divided solids out of suspension in which the settling area is increased by the introduction of a number of parallel settling surfaces into a single settling tank to secure greater settling capacity in a limited volume.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,754,870 also discloses an apparatus for separating finely divided solids from liquid comprising a single tank, a plurality of superposed bell members therein, and means depending from the bell members to form enlarged annular chambers with the skirts of the superposed bell members.
Yet another prior art device discloses a method and apparatus for separating oil and water by using a plurality of containers, each of which acts as a separator and each of which receives processed fluid by gravity flow from the containiner immediately preceding it wherein the lighter of the two liquids is allowed to float to the top and the heavier of the liquids successively containing a lesser amount of the lighter material in successive separators is passed to the next separation container. This prior art in contained in U.S. Pat. No. 3,844,944.